This is quite possibly the most delicious meal ever created: The guacamole costs extra, though. (Thanks to Brian for the link!) Read more
Remember the banner that used to be up at Cranston High School West? This is what it looks like today: I’d call that an improvement 🙂 By the way, you can still donate to the Jessica Ahlquist Scholarship Fund: Read more
A 14-year-old former Girl Scout from California (identified as Taylor) created a YouTube video (which has since been made private) calling for a national boycott on the purchasing of Girl Scout cookies after a troop in Colorado recently admitted a transgender child. In the video, Taylor performs adorned with a silver cross and a sash covered with badges, while making statements like this one: Right now, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A…is not being honest with us girls, its troops, its… Read more
… would the country still love him? Would the still be the most popular athlete (according to an ESPN poll)? Would he still get away with putting messages on his uniform if they read “Insha’Allah”? Salon’s Marcus Cederstrom says the odds are against it: So I ask, what if Tim Tebow were Muslim? How would our society react if during every interview, Tebow said “Insha’Allah” or “Allāhu Akbar” rather than thank his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Or instead of… Read more
You might remember when Christian rapper B-SHOC (a.k.a. Bryan Edmonds) was invited to speak at an assembly at New Heights Middle School in Jefferson, South Carolina this past September. Here’s how that went (the relevant part begins at the 3:04 mark): Even the New York Times covered the incident and called it part of a trend in which Christians are illegally proselytizing in public schools. Anyway, last month, Jonathan Anderson (an atheist) sued the district (PDF) on behalf of his… Read more
Greg Wilcox has a terrific cover story about ex-Mormons who become atheists at City Weekly: Certain heavy-handed practices required by his mission also made [former LDS missionary Chris] Merris feel uneasy about his religion. He says that he and other missionaries were encouraged to go beyond the normal missionary discussions with prospective new members, implementing such things as what they called the “Joseph Smith pray now.” This involved getting missionaries and prospective new members to pray in a circle about… Read more
At the request of several readers, this is a separate thread just for the Jessica Ahlquist college scholarship fundraiser. If you want to help her, please contribute. Let the media know that there are a lot of us who support what she’s done and who want to make her future better than her present by giving her the opportunity to go to college without worrying about things like tuition and books. As I stated before, when this fundraiser is over,… Read more
Or: “Things Tim Tebow will never say.” (via the New Yorker — Thanks to Janice for the link!) Read more
In the recently-decided Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the Supreme Court held (PDF) that “ministers” cannot sue their churches under federal employment discrimination laws. For background on this case, see this previous post. Relying heavily on the history of the Constitution, the Court explained that the First Amendment was designed, in part, “to ensure that the new Federal Government — unlike the English Crown — would have no role in filling ecclesiastical offices.” The… Read more